Why do so many intellectuals believe that capitalism will destroy us all?

Criticism of capitalism is en vogue. Sometimes you almost have the feeling that income that is too high is reprehensible. But real capitalists (if you can even call them that) not only take – they also give something back to society – a notion that takes getting used to, but is not absurd, which at first glance may even hurt some left-wing intellectuals. But Vince Ebert makes an interesting calculation.

I recently talked to a respected philosopher at a vernissage about the current economic situation in Germany. While I was happy about the solid consumption and the low unemployment figures, the smart humanities scholar was skeptical.
“We have way too many things that we don’t need.
We have to learn to do without again, ”he said with a frown and sipped his champagne glass.
Aha.
Strangely, only those who can afford everything anyway talk about doing without.
Free markets, a renowned sociologist interrupted and reached for the shrimp canapés, would inevitably drive us all into moral, ecological and social ruin.
I nodded and thought of my last stay in Switzerland.
I saw with my own eyes how terrifying the quality of life is in Lausanne, Zurich and Geneva.
The free market should take North Korea or Cuba as an example.

Why are so many intellectuals in love with the idea that capitalism would destroy us all?
Here is a small example: Two acquaintances of mine graduated with honors.
One, nice one, was a philosophically interested visionary with a deep sense of justice.
The other was already a superficial materialist at school who was determined to have a career.
After completing his studies, the idealist joins Greenpeace, chains himself to a sequoia tree, destroys fields of GM maize and stops whaling boats with the rubber dinghy.
The yuppie, on the other hand, becomes an investment banker, sells lazy derivatives and collects 500,000 euros a year.
He only pays tax on 300,000 – he evades the rest.

The irony of the story is that while the intellectual do-gooder saved a tree that was cleared three months later and also pissed off a few farmers and whalers, the ******* in the society’s designer suit has 150,000 euros in taxes for schools , Streets and cultural institutions.
From the embezzled 200,000 euros he buys cars, jewelry and expensive food, pays his cleaning lady, his golf instructor and his coke dealer.
The committed justice fanatic only costs, the unleashed turbo-capitalist gives something back to society – without his wanting to do so.

That’s the nifty thing about capitalism. You don’t have to be a good person to be morally good.
Because capitalism does not serve a higher purpose. It is the only economic system that is not an ideology.
It is probably exactly what so annoys many intellectuals about it. For a long time I also thought that capitalists are all ruthless, cold-hearted people.
When I was 17, a school colleague invited me to his birthday. Since his father was an entrepreneur, he lived with his family in a rather impressive villa.
I walked into the foyer, slightly disgusted, which looked as if JR was about to come down the stairs to say things like, “Sue Ellen is drinking again …”
To my surprise, a reticent, elderly gentleman entered the room, who in the course of the evening turned out to be far more social, thoughtful and responsible than all of my acquaintances who insulted such people as “capitalist pigs”. After that evening, I decided to become a capitalist too.
Forgive me, dear intellectuals …

Vince Ebert is a physicist and cabaret artist and is on tour throughout Germany with his stage program “Freiheit ist alles”. He is also a columnist for absatzwirtschaft.
Tour dates at www.vince-ebert.de.

Read all of Vince Ebert’s columns.